EDIT: Wait…what if we just cut the lady out? Rey stands up, looks back, sees the ghosties, and flies away in the Falcon?
Kinda betrays the title of the movie. She needs to declare her newfound family.
Anyways, with the puppet show implemented soon, the ending scene will be a nearly exact replica of that Aki Aki lady asking for her last name. So the ending scene will be there to reflect her growth since then (she feels worthy to claim the Skywalker name now).
No no no, but hear me out…like Hal said, TROS takes everything annoyingly, uncomfortably literally - it feels the need to spell everything out, because it thinks the audience is stoopid and won’t understand subtext. But that doesn’t mean we have to. If Rey doesn’t outwardly declare herself a Skywalker at the end, the “Rise of Skywalker” could still refer to:
- The galaxy “rising” up in the name of Skywalker
- Ben Solo-Skywalker rising above the Darkness and choosing the Light
- Ben Solo-Skywalker ascending to Jedi Heaven
- Rey choosing to follow in the Skywalker legacy (visually, not audibly, represented by them appearing to her)
- The spirit, the metaphorical soul of Luke Skywalker rising above the Emperor’s darkness.
- What the legend of “Skywalker” means to the galaxy
- etc. etc. etc.
There are so many new and wonderful interpretations that could be made. It would be beautiful, and insightful, and poetic. It would stick in the mind as something worth pondering. “What does “Rise of Skywalker” truly mean?”
Or…Rey can just usurp the family name. That’s…meaningful, I guess?
EDIT: Maybe the lesson is, “Rather than be defined by the sins of your family, you can just pretend to not be related to them”? That’s…I mean, I wouldn’t call it “poignant,” but…